Assembly unit for transport, method for assembling the assembly unit, transporting method using the assembly unit

ABSTRACT

An assembly unit including a base ( 1 ) having a rectangular shape and a plurality of mounting parts ( 7 ) which are arranged with intervals each other along opposite sides ( 6 ) of the base and provided to extend from the opposite sides, and a plurality of holders ( 2 ) detachably attached to the mounting parts and configured to hold opposite ends of an article to be held while spacing an intermediate part of the article from the base.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based on Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2004-376356 filed on Dec. 27, 2004and 2005-9748 filed on Jan. 18, 2005, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an assembly unit for transport, a method for assembling the assembly unit and a transporting method using the assembling unit.

2. Description of Related Art

In assembly units used to transport long articles, a type in which each assembly unit is collapsed when it is not used (for reference, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H11-29136), and a type in which the long article is wrapped by fold up of one sheet (for reference, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H8-72860) have been known.

However, because the transporting assembly unit for supporting the long article has a structure used exclusively depending on the entire length of an elongated shape and an outer diameter size of the article, the assembly unit cannot be used commonly to articles of different entire lengths and outer diameter sizes, there is a problem that commoditizing of the assembly unit cannot be accomplished.

In particular, because an assembly unit for supporting a roller as an article to be held and transporting it has a structure in which a holder for supporting the roller and a base for fixing the holder are connected integrally by an adhesive or the like, the assembly unit must be disassembled, destroyed and scrapped every the time that the entire length or the outer diameter size of the roller is changed, therefore there is a problem on resource of material shortage or the like.

Furthermore, because the holder is made of a foam material, for example, a plastic material, there is a problem from viewpoints of industrial waste products.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide an assembly unit for transport capable of holding commonly elongate articles of different sizes and suitable to accomplish reduction of industrial waste products, a method for assembling the assembly unit and a transporting method using the assembly unit.

To accomplish the above object, the assembly unit for transport according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a base having a rectangular shape and a plurality of mounting parts which are arranged with intervals each other along opposite sides of the base and provided to extend from the opposite sides and a plurality of holders detachably attached to the mounting parts and configured to hold opposite ends of an article to be held while spacing an intermediate part of the article from the base.

A method for assembling an assembly unit according to another embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of preparing a base having a rectangular shape, providing mounting parts to be disposed with intervals each other along opposite sides of the rectangular base and project from the opposite sides, and attaching detachably holders to hold opposite ends of each of elongate articles to be held while spacing an intermediate portion of each of the elongate articles from a surface of the rectangular base.

A transporting method using an assembling unit according to yet another embodiment of the present invention stacks and transports a plurality of assembly units in a box.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a semi-assembled state of an assembly unit for transport according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing a rectangular base shown in FIG.1 with one portion thereof enlarged.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing all shape of the rectangular base according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing a shape of a holder shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a holder shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a state in which charging rollers are supported on the assembly unit shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a partial enlarged view showing a shape of a groove of the holder shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing the assembly unit shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is a partially sectioned side view showing a state in which a plurality of assembly units shown in FIG. 5 are stacked in a box.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the rectangular base shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 11 is a side view showing another embodiment of the holder shown in FIG. 5, in which some assembly units are stacked.

FIG. 12 is a side view showing yet another embodiment of the holder shown in FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of an assembly unit for transport, a method for assembling the assembly unit and a transporting method using the assembly unit according to the present invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings hereinafter.

FIG. 1 illustrates the assembly unit for transport according to the present invention.

The assembly unit comprises a base 1 having a rectangular shape, for example, and a plurality of holders 2 provided on opposite sides, for example, opposite long sides 6 of the base 1.

The base 1 includes a pair of rectangular thin plates 3 and 4 disposed to face with an interval each other upward and downward, and a plurality of reinforced ribs 5 which are disposed to extend in parallel with intervals each other between the pair of thin plates 3 and 4.

In this embodiment, although the reinforced ribs 5 are structured to extend in parallel along the opposite long sides of the base 1, they may be structured to extend in parallel along opposite short sides of the base 1.

As the rectangular base 1, a cardboard made of a plastic material, for example, polypropylene resin. As the polypropylene resin, for example, available articles, for example, the name of article: Sunply HP 40070 (Sumitomo Plastic Co, Ltd) is preferably used.

In this embodiment, the rectangular base 1 is made of a white semi-transparent material. However, the attachment of a white dust to the base can be recognized easily by using other semi-transparent material rather than the white semi-transparent material, preferably.

As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of mounting parts 7 for mounting the holders 2 are provided on the long sides 6 of the rectangular body 1 to project from the long sides. The mounting parts 7 extend generally perpendicularly from the long sides 6 and disposed with predetermined intervals in a direction to which the long sides extend.

Each of the mounting parts 7 holds each holder 2, as mentioned hereinafter.

In this embodiment, the four mounting parts 7 are provided on one of the long sides of the base 1, the similarly shaped-holders 2 mounted on the mounting parts 7 are arranged linearly along the long sides 6, as shown in FIG. 1.

The mounting parts 7 are configured to project from the long sides 6 of the base 1 in a generally perpendicular direction to a direction where the reinforced ribs 5 extend. More specifically, each mounting part 7 has a projected base 8 and a pair of notches 9. The pair of notches 9 are arranged with intervals each other along the long sides 6.

Each of the mounting parts 7 includes a retaining plated portion 10 extending from the projected base 8 in a projecting direction thereof. The retaining plated portion 10 has a vanishing shape which gently inclines from the projected base 8 to a leading end of the mounting part 7.

The holders 2 are preferably made of a waste material of a resinous molding, for example. Each of the holders 2 includes a pair of plated leg parts 11 extending in the same direction as the projecting direction of the mounting part 7, and a raised plated part 12 standing from the pair of plated leg parts 11 in a generally perpendicular direction to the pair of plated leg parts 11, as shown in FIG. 4.

In other words, the pair of plated leg parts 11 is positioned at opposite ends of the raised plated part 12 and a lower portion of the raised plated part 12. The pair of plated leg parts of each holder is arranged with intervals each other along the long sides 6, when the holders 2 are held on the mounting parts 7, as mentioned hereinafter.

At an upper portion of the raised plated part 12 of each holder 2, a plurality of constituting walls 14 to form one or more U-character shaped grooves 13 extending upwardly and downwardly of each holder 2 are provided along each of the long sides 6, as shown in FIG. 5. In this embodiment, the six constituting walls 14 for forming the five grooves 13 per each holder are provided (see FIGS. 1, 4 and 5).

In each of the grooves 13, an end of a supporting shaft 15A of, for example, a charging roller 15 as a precision part which is an elongate member to be held and used in a copying machine, for example, as shown in FIG. 6 is inserted in each groove and supported on a bottom surface of the groove, as mentioned hereinafter more specifically. In this embodiment, the bottom surface of the groove has a semi-circular shape similar to an outer shape of the supporting shaft 15A.

Meanwhile, reference numeral 15B in FIG. 6 denotes a cylindrical body of the charging roller 14.

In addition, in this embodiment, the assembly unit is structured to support the charging roller 15, however, it may be used to support a developing roller used in a copying machine, for example.

Furthermore, the assembly unit may be used for supporting various elongate precision parts such as a developer regulating member, an optical part or the like by forming optionally the shape of each of the grooves 13.

Provided on the adjacent constituting walls 14A of each groove 13 are a pair of opposite retaining protrusions 16 to prevent the supporting shaft 15A of each charging roller 15 from removing out of the groove 13 (see FIGS. 4 and 5).

An interval L1 between the opposite protrusions 16 is set to be lesser slightly than an outer diameter L2 of the supporting shaft 16A, as shown in FIG. 7.

The end of the supporting shaft 15A of each of the charging rollers 15 is inserted in the corresponding groove 13 from above and supported on the semi-circular bottom surface of the groove 13 over the pair of protrusions 16 while the supporting shaft is guided downwardly in the groove.

With such a structure, jumping of the charging roller 15 due to vibrations can be effectively prevented when the charging roller is transported.

Each of the holders 2 has a mounting hole 17 provided in the raised plated part 12 so that the mounting part 7 of the base 1 is inserted, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In this embodiment, the mounting hole 17 comprises a rectangular hole formed to extend along the long sides 6 between the pair of plated leg part 11 (see FIGS. 4 and 5).

Meanwhile, reference number 18 denotes a constituting wall for forming the rectangular hole 17.

Each holder 2 is attached to the mounting part 7 by inserting the mounting part 7 in the rectangular hole 17. Because the leading portion of the mounting part 7 is formed thinly, the mounting part can be inserted easily in the rectangular hole 17, therefore the attachment of the holder 2 to the mounting part 7 can be achieved easily.

In this way, when each holder 2 is attached to each of the mounting parts 7 disposed on the long sides 6 of the base 1, the four holders 2 are arranged on each of the opposite long sides 6 of the base 1.

FIG. 1 illustrates a state that the four holders 2 are arranged on one of the long sides 6 of the base 1.

In addition, provided on opposite ends of each mounting part 7 are one or more engaging pawls 19 which are disposed adjacently to the notches 9 and engaged with the constituting wall 18 to prevent the remove of each holder 2 from each mounting part 7, when the holders 2 are mounted on the mounting parts 7, as shown in FIG. 3.

Furthermore, a raised piece 20 having resilience is provided in each mounting part 7 (see FIGS. 2 and 3). The raised piece 20 has a raised end which is moved downwardly so that the holder 2 goes over the raised end as the mounting part 7 is inserted in the rectangular hole 17 and is engaged with the constituting wall 18 of the holder 2 when the holder 2 is mounted on the mounting part 7 to prevent the holder 2 from removing out of the mounting part, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. The raised piece 20 can be formed easily by providing a slit or the like in the mounting part 7 by use of a cutting mechanism such as a cutter or the like.

As mentioned above, by the raised piece 20, the remove of each holder 2 from the base 1 can be prevented securely.

The holders 2 are mounted on the mounting parts 7 disposed on the long sides 6 of the base 1 (see FIG. 6). Each of the charging rollers 15 is held on the holder 2. In this case, the supporting shafts 15A of each of the charging rollers 15 are inserted in the opposite grooves 13 of the holders 2 disposed on the long sides 6 of the base 1 and supported on the semi-circular bottom surfaces of the grooves 13. When the charging roller 15 is supported on the holders 2, the cylindrical body 15B which is the intermediate portion of the charging roller 15 is disposed to space from the surface of the base 1, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

In addition, the rectangular base 1 is also supported on the holders 2 so that a lower surface of the base 1 is disposed with an interval from a floor and so on (not shown), as shown in FIG. 1.

In this way, because the base is supported on the holders 2 with spacing from the floor and so on, even if the assembly unit is placed on a dirty table and so on, dust or the like on the table can be prevented from attaching to a lower surface of the thin plate 3 of the base 1 securely.

A wall surface 12A at one end of the raised plated part 12 of one holder 2 is disposed close to a wall surface 12B at another end of the raised plated part 12 of the adjacent holder 2 to the one holder 2, as shown in FIG. 8, when each holder 2 is mounted on the mounting part 7 of the base 1.

With such a structure, when the rectangular base 1 is lifted in a direction shown by arrow A in FIG. 8 with gripping short sides 21, 21 of the base 1 by hands, even if an intermediate portion of the base in a direction where the long sides extend is bent to project downwardly in a direction shown by arrow B by a weight of the charging rollers 15, the adjacent holders 2 contact together by sloping in an approaching direction each other, as shown by arrow C in FIG. 8 to block flexure of the rectangular base 1, whereby preventing flexure and breakage of the assembly unit.

Some assembly units are stacked in a box 22 and transported in a state in which the charging rollers 15 are supported on the holders 2, as shown in FIG. 9. In FIG. 9, a projected length L3 of each mounting part 7 of the base 1 is shorter than the entire length L4 of the plated leg part 11 of each holder 2. Thereby, the leading portion of each mounting part 7 is prevented from contacting with a wall surface 22A of the box 22 directly, and hence the breakage of the base 1 due to the deformation thereof is prevented.

To remove out easily the assembly units which are stacked in a plurality of steps, from the box 22, as shown in FIG. 9, in this embodiment, the projected length of at least one of the mounting parts 7 disposed on each of the long sides 6 of the base 1 is set to be shorter than that of the other mounting parts, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

The assembly unit is disassembled into the rectangular base 1 and the holders 2, and the disassembled base and the holders are recycled after the charging rollers 15 are transported.

In this way, because it is possible to disassemble the assembly unit and recycle the base and holders and reassemble the base and the holders, use the reassembled assembly unit, high recycle efficiency can be accomplished.

In the embodiments of the present invention, although the projecting direction of each mounting part 7 is formed to extend in the direction perpendicular to the direction where each reinforced rib 5 extends, as shown in FIG. 3, the mounting parts 7 may be provided on the short sides of the rectangular base 1 so that the projecting direction of the mounting parts 7 generally coincides with the direction where the reinforced ribs 5 extend, in other words, in the direction parallel with the direction where the reinforced ribs 5 extend, as shown in FIG. 10.

Thereby, a sufficient strength of the mounting parts 7 can be accomplished.

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 11, when the plurality of assembly units are stacked upwardly and downwardly in the box 22, it is preferable that one or more semi circular engaging projections 23 are provided on a bottom surface of each of the holders 2 of the assembly units and configured so that the projections 23 of an upper holder are inserted in the grooves 13 of a lower holder. Thereby, the upper and lower assembly units are prevented from misaligning with each other by vibrations or the like during transporting to accomplish stable transportation of the assembly units.

Although the some embodiments have been explained, as shown in FIG. 12, there may be provided a boss 24 disposed on the wall surface 12A of the one end of the raised plated part 12 of one holder 2 and projecting to the wall surface 12B of the raised plated part 12 of the adjacent holder 2, and a concave 25 in which the boss 24 fits and disposed at the wall surface 12B of the adjacent holder 2.

With such a structure, when the holders are mounted on the mounting parts 7, the holders are connected with each other along the long sides 6 of the base 1, therefore a high holding strength of the holders 2 can be accomplished.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, various modifications and changes are made to the above embodiments. 

1. An assembly unit for transport, comprising: a base having a rectangular shape and a plurality of mounting parts which are arranged with intervals each other along opposite sides of the base and provided to project from the opposite sides; and a plurality of holders detachably attached to the mounting parts and configured to hold opposite ends of a held article by the holders disposed on the opposite sides while spacing an intermediate part of the article from the base.
 2. The assembly unit according to claim 1, wherein the held articles are rollers, each of which having supporting shafts provided on opposite ends of the roller.
 3. The assembly unit according to claim 1, wherein each of the holders includes a raised plated part and a groove provided to extend upwardly and downwardly of the raised plated part and capable of supporting the held article.
 4. The assembly unit according to claim 2, wherein each of the holders includes a raised plated part, at least one groove provided to extend upwardly and downwardly of the raised plated part and capable of supporting the supporting shaft of the roller, and a pair of protrusions provided on opposite walls of the groove and configured to prevent the supporting shaft from removing out of the groove.
 5. The assembly unit according to claim 4, wherein at least one projection is provided on a bottom surface of each holder to engage in the groove.
 6. The assembly unit according to claim 4, wherein each of the holders has a pair of plated leg parts provided on opposite ends of the raised plated parts.
 7. The assembly unit according to claim 1, wherein each of the holders has a raised plated part, a mounting hole which is provided in the raised plated part and in which each of the mounting parts is inserted, and at least one engaging pawl formed on the mounting part to prevent the holder from removing out of the mounting hole when the mounting part is inserted in the mounting hole.
 8. The assembly unit according to claim 7, wherein each of the mounting parts has a raised piece for engaging with the mounting hole to prevent the holder from removing out of the mounting hole.
 9. The assembly unit according to claim 1, wherein the holders are disposed close with respect to each other.
 10. The assembly unit according to claim 4, further comprising a boss disposed on a wall surface at one end of the raised plated part of one holder of the adjacent holders and projecting toward a wall surface of the raised plated part of the adjacent holder to the one holder, and a concave in which the boss fits and provided on the wall surface of the adjacent holder.
 11. The assembly unit according to claim 1, wherein the rectangular base includes a pair of thin plates and reinforced ribs disposed between the pair of thin plates and extending in parallel with intervals.
 12. The assembly unit according to claim 1, wherein the rectangular base comprises a cardboard made of a plastic material, and wherein the plastic material is polypropylene resin.
 13. The assembly unit according to claim 11, wherein the mounting parts project generally perpendicularly to a direction where the reinforced ribs extend.
 14. The assembly unit according to claim 11, wherein the mounting parts project generally in parallel with a direction where the reinforced ribs extend.
 15. The assembly unit according to claim 11, wherein the holders are made of a waste material of a resinous molding.
 16. The assembly unit according to claim 12, wherein the rectangular base is made of a semi-transparent material other than a white semi-transparent material.
 17. A method for assembling an assembly unit for transport, comprising the steps of: preparing a base having a rectangular shape; providing mounting parts to be disposed with intervals each other along opposite sides of the rectangular base and project from the opposite sides; and attaching detachably holders to hold opposite ends of each of elongate articles to be held while spacing an intermediate portion of each of the elongate articles from a surface of the rectangular base.
 18. A transporting method of stacking and transporting the assembly unit as recited in claim 1 in a plurality of sets in a box. 